Khristy Wilkinson had everyone’s attention as the featured speaker for the JFK Club’s June meeting. The current chairwoman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party and former candidate for state Senate spoke about the challenges the Democrat Party faces in the county.
“There is no time for cynicism. There is not time for divisiveness. There is no time for fatigue. And there is no time for apathy,” said Ms. Wilkinson.
The speaker stressed unity among the party members, saying, “We focus on each other rather than the opposition party,” and, “We have big people and big issues we’re going against in Hamilton County.”
One of those “big people” she spoke of was Rep. Robin Smith, who won a spot in the state legislature last year. While Ms. Wilkinson did say that she admired Ms. Smith’s loyalty to her core beliefs and convictions, she also put Robin Smith on blast during her speech.
“We have a vitriolic, divisive representative in Robin Smith,” said Ms. Wilkinson, “Have you read some of the things she’s written about the LGBTQ+ community, or about Planned Parenthood?”
When one of the JFK club members’ asked the chairwoman why the party wasted ”resources by putting them into races we can’t win,” Ms. Wilkinson answered thoroughly.
She stressed the importance of every vote, and mentioned how a focus of the Democrat Party is to make sure that “every Democrat in the county has a candidate to vote for.”
Another guest asked the speaker a much different kind of question.
“Where’s the diversity in the room? Why is it just us,” asked the guest, gesturing to the almost-completely older and white collection of faces that populated the meeting.
“Diversity is a lot of things,” said Ms. Wilkinson, “It consists of things like age, income level, education, religion, and many other factors, not just race. But we did just elect the most diverse board in the history of Hamilton County.”
However, Ms. Wilkinson did not deny that lack of diversity was an issue, and she gave several possible solutions to the problem.
“People are inspired by people they’re voting for, and people tend to be inspired by people they can relate to,” said the party leader. She stressed that building diversity within the voter base would only be achieved through grassroots efforts and building one-on-one relationships.
“We’re trying to build bridges,” she said.
After speaking for an hour, Ms. Wilkinson spent the next 20 minutes answering questions from individuals.
The JFK club meets on the third week of every month.